Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei's War Journey

Lu Mingfei and Nuonuo trudged across the snowfield, their simple sunglasses barely protecting their eyes, and the clumsy sponge cushions tied to their feet effectively preventing them from sinking into the deep snow.

All around was a deathly white silence, with only the sound of the wind and their heavy breathing.

"Nono, do you think we'd be considered a pair of star-crossed lovers if we died on this snowfield?" Lu Mingfei said, spouting nonsense as they walked.

"Stop being silly. I have the ability to find the tail section and then bring you back alive." Nono rolled her eyes at him, and then she went to the route the plane had taken down.

She crouched down, extended her hand (which she used as a sock as a glove), and gently brushed away the surface snow to reveal a more solid layer of ice and snow underneath, along with the occasional piece of airplane debris. She closed her eyes, and all her senses seemed to focus on her fingertips and the land.

In that instant, time seemed to rewind in her mind: the moment the plane crashed into the mountain ridge, the wings snapped off, the deafening roar, the piercing shriek of metal tearing apart, the uncontrolled tumbling, the flying snow and ice...

The heavy nose and main cabin slid down the snow slope, while the relatively light tail was thrown out by the enormous inertia, tracing an arc as it plummeted... in that direction!

Nono suddenly opened her eyes, pointed to an area shrouded in the shadow of a mountain ridge to her side, and said with certainty, "Let's go, the tail is over there."

"What?! You...found it already?" Lu Mingfei was stunned, his mouth slightly agape. Although he never doubted Nuonuo, this process was too miraculous! Just by looking at the traces and thinking for a moment with his eyes closed, he pinpointed the location? This was practically like a superpower from a movie!

"Stop talking nonsense and follow me." Without explaining, Nuonuo stood up and took the lead in walking in the direction she pointed.

Lu Mingfei quickly followed, and soon he realized that this was the same road he had taken last time, but there were some differences. Although he was a little confused, he still followed closely behind Nuonuo.

After several hours of arduous climbing, they reached the vicinity of the mountainside again, but Lu Mingfei was exhausted and his face had turned ashen.

"I can't take it anymore... Nuonuo... I need to rest for a while..." Lu Mingfei said weakly as he collapsed in the snow.

Although Nono was also panting heavily, she was in much better condition than Lu Mingfei. Lu Mingfei couldn't understand how Nono could have better stamina than him when they had eaten almost the same things and Nono was recovering from a serious illness.

Seeing Lu Mingfei's appearance, Nuonuo sighed helplessly and said, "Let's take a rest."

Lu Mingfei got up again and started grabbing the snow next to him to melt it into water. Just then, his fingers touched something hard. He was stunned for a moment and then frantically dug away the snow around him with both hands.

A dark blue hard-shell suitcase gradually came into view.

"Nono! Look! A suitcase! There's a suitcase!" Lu Mingfei's voice trembled with excitement as he struggled to pull the suitcase, which was half-buried in the snow, out.

Nono immediately came over, checked the suitcase and the surrounding environment, and nodded affirmatively: "A suitcase was left here, which means we're looking in the right direction."

Lu Mingfei had no time to analyze at this moment. With trembling hands, as if opening a door to a treasure trove, he forcefully pried open the slightly deformed buckles of the suitcase. With a click, the lid popped open.

Inside, neatly stacked were several pairs of jeans, several pairs of thick socks, and a gray turtleneck sweater that looked very warm. But what Lu Mingfei found most unbelievable was a large, intact plate of dark chocolate wrapped in tin foil, placed on top of the clothes.

Lu Mingfei was so excited, he felt like he had won the lottery and was about to jump for joy. He immediately broke off a piece of chocolate and handed it to Nuonuo, then broke off another piece and put it in his own mouth. He immediately showed a silly, happy smile.

However, he quickly and carefully put the remaining chocolate in his arms. This large piece of chocolate was enough for him and Nono to last for another three days.

"Judging from your appearance, there are definitely more boxes ahead." Nono couldn't help but smile as she looked at Lu Mingfei's cautious manner.

"That's right! There must be more boxes ahead! Nono, let's hurry!" Lu Mingfei stood up instantly. Now his back and legs were no longer sore, and he was extremely excited to find something else ahead.

Nono picked up the box on the ground; they would need the warm clothes inside for the night. Then she and Lu Mingfei continued walking forward.

Sure enough, after walking a short distance and rounding a huge rock wall, their view suddenly opened up, and the broken tail of the plane lay quietly on a relatively flat snow slope in front of them.

Lu Mingfei was about to shout out excitedly, but he quickly realized something was wrong because he saw a large patch of blood at the front of the tail section, as if something had been slaughtered there.

There's no way a plane crash could produce this much blood unless someone was cut in half during the crash.

"Stay behind me." Nono's voice instantly became wary.

She clearly noticed the unusual bloodstains as well. Without hesitation, she pulled out the revolver she always carried with her, chambered a round, gripped it tightly with both hands, and crouched down like a hunting leopard, cautiously approaching the tail of the plane step by step.

Lu Mingfei's heart was in his throat. He followed closely behind Nuonuo, not daring to breathe.

As the two approached, they both felt their breath catch in their throats. On the open ground next to the tail of the plane, several corpses were scattered, two of which were the most horrifying. Their skin had been completely peeled off, leaving only bright red muscle tissue and white fascia exposed to the cold air.

The other corpses nearby, though clothed, were covered in deep, bone-revealing knife wounds, their limbs twisted, clearly indicating they had been repeatedly cut by sharp blades.

Although Lu Mingfei had seen many corpses before, he was still terrified by what he saw. Nuonuo, on the other hand, tensed up and began to survey the surroundings with her gun raised.

"This is... Cancesa's necklace?!" Lu Mingfei's gaze was drawn to something tightly clutched in the hand of one of the skinned corpses.

He forced himself to stay awake and took two steps forward, and saw that it was a silver cross necklace, which he had often seen Cancesa stroking while praying.

Why is Cancesar's necklace here?! Could it be... could it be that Cancesar actually found the tail section during the last expedition? But why didn't he mention it when he returned?

At this moment, Nono also finished checking the surroundings and, after confirming that it was temporarily safe, walked over. Her expression was unusually solemn, and her gaze fell on the two skinned corpses.

"This body holding the necklace is much fresher than the others, definitely not from the plane crash. You said before that when Cancesa went missing, he claimed to have seen Caritos?"

"Yes! Caritos was thrown out when the tail broke off!" Lu Mingfei hurriedly replied.

"I understand..." Nono murmured. She closed her eyes again, but this time she didn't recall the plane crash. Instead, she rapidly pieced together and deduced all the details in her mind, like a jigsaw puzzle: the shape of the blood splatter, the position and condition of the corpse, the scattered items, and the traces of ice and snow.

In an instant, a series of bloody scenes flashed through her mind: the tail of the plane crashed to the ground, most of the passengers died on the spot, but a figure struggled to crawl out of the deformed cabin. He found a kitchen knife, walked to a relatively intact corpse, and began to skillfully skin it.

He then put the bloody human skin on himself… For the next few days, he ate other victims… Later, he began to go out on his own, as if searching for something… Until four days ago, he brought back another living man, Canceza, killed him, skinned him, dressed him properly, and left, never to return…

"Word of Power: Painted Skin!?" As the profiling ended, Nuonuo suddenly opened her eyes, her chest heaving violently with shock, and blurted out a word that was completely unfamiliar to Lu Mingfei.

If it really is this Word of Power, then everything makes sense. The Kancessa mixed among the survivors wasn't the real Kancessa at all, but a hybrid assassin capable of stealing other people's skins and disguising identities. He might have been on the plane from the very beginning.

"Painted Skin? Nono, what are you talking about? What kind of spiritual power?" Lu Mingfei listened from the side, looking completely bewildered, but the unprecedented fear on Nono's face made him feel that something was very wrong.

Nono took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, and explained in a way that Lu Mingfei could understand: "There's a monster... that lured the real Cancesa here a few days ago, killed him, then skinned him, disguised himself as him, and infiltrated our ranks. The Cancesa in the cabin now is a fake!"

"What?!" Lu Mingfei was struck dumb, frozen in place. What Nuonuo said was completely beyond his comprehension.